4aAA2. The duality of the observer and the observed---From quantum mechanics to architectural acoustics.

Session: Thursday Morning, May 16

Time: 9:25

In 1928, Niels Bohr pointed out the dual description required in the
quantum mechanics of measurement, involving the observer and the observed
[Naturwissenschaften 17, 483--486 (1928)], and a few years later, John von
Neumann discussed this principle at some length in his text on the Mathematical
Foundations of Quantum Mechanics [(Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1932), English
translation, Princeton U.P., 1955]. It now appears that architectural acoustics
has been following the same route. Examples cited by von Neumann are described
and paralleled with examples from the work of Schroeder, Ando, and others in
concert hall acoustics.